


Unusually Silent

by Publisher021



Series: Publisher021's Whumptober2019 [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark Friendship, Protective Steve Rogers, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:42:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21695581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Publisher021/pseuds/Publisher021
Summary: His job as an Avenger consists of many things, sometimes things that change day to day.His job as Tony's boyfriend, however, consists of only two things:1. Love Tony2. Support TonyOh, and one other thing; help Tony whenever he's hurt and too stubborn to go down to medical.
Relationships: Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Publisher021's Whumptober2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1508237
Comments: 2
Kudos: 145





	Unusually Silent

**Author's Note:**

> So I know that Whumptober is officially over, but I absolutely hate leaving things unfinished. I've decided that I will finish all the prompts (even if it takes me forever). 
> 
> This is for Day 4 of Whumptober with prompt 24 (secret injury).

It's - okay, see, it's like this: Steve is in love with Tony. Literally every inch of Tony.

And let's be honest, there aren't a lot of inches, no matter what Tony says when he's feeling insecure about himself and his physique. (As big as Tony's ego is, his height is incomparable; he's like a tiny adorable kitten that's walking around in an expensive suit).

And so, as with everything, Steve loves the fact that he is the only one who gets to see Tony first thing in the morning. He loves seeing Tony wake up next to him, all sleepy soft and hair product-free, curls mussed and hanging over his eyes. He makes sure to have a pot of coffee already made and a mug waiting on the marble kitchen counter after his run for whenever Tony decides to stumble out of bed. 

However, his favourite thing about loving Tony is the fact that Tony feels as if he can come to him and tell him about his day, or the annoying intern who didn't get his coffee right, even though it wasn't his job to get Tony his coffee fix for that day. He loves that Tony feels as if he could vent to him whenever he was feeling frustrated with the board members after a meeting.

If he was completely honest with himself, he really just enjoys the fact that Tony talks to him. And really, Tony talks enough for the two of them most of the time. Which, when they first started dating, was a massive issue, not because he didn't like Tony talking, but because Tony would start talking to him, babbling and waving his hands in the air when he spoke of something that he was passionate about, only to stop mid-sentence and go completely silent.

It took him an embarrassingly long time to figure out that many of Tony's past relationships (if you can even call them relationships) weren't very kind to him. His past lovers liked Tony, but not enough to listen to him go off on a tangent on whatever interested him at the time. They preferred when he was quiet and only spoke when spoken to, not when he spoke at speeds too fast to grasp. 

It made his blood boil whenever he thought of Tony's past relationships. Especially because he knew that Tony was young and vulnerable and more than a little insecure enough to believe and fall under whatever coercion his past lovers had to have told him. They made him believe that they loved him, when in reality they only really loved the riches and fame that came with bedding a Stark. 

Which made his job - and no, he really didn't mean it to come out sounding like it was some sort of chore to be Tony's boyfriend, but being Tony's boyfriend was a full time job - so much more difficult, especially since Tony still held his old insecurities concerning his past lovers close to heart.

He had a ton of trouble when it came to convincing Tony that it was his job to listen to him. Because, if not him, then who else would listen to Tony? It was part of being Tony's boyfriend.

Also, he just really liked when Tony spoke. It never ceased to amaze him how Tony's eyes lit up and his hands made vivid gestures in the air whenever he spoke. Tony was like an excitable child whenever he spoke about things he was passionate about, and it often showed when he asked Tony to tell him about his day or what latest project he was working on.

And, after nearly two years of them being together - they had celebrated their first anniversary more than five months ago - he liked to think that he knew Tony well enough by now.

Which, is to say that he knows Tony quite well.

Well enough by now to see that something was extremely wrong with him.

He first noticed it when they finished their little street fight with Doom (he absolutely refused to call it a mission because to him, missions meant battling against their challenging enemies and blowing up their hideouts while staying hidden long enough to make it out and be on their way home on the Quinjet before their enemies even realized what hit them) and Tony had flown back to the tower without saying a word.

He supposed that the second clue was when he finally managed to get out of the shower and Tony was nowhere to be seen in the penthouse. When he'd asked JARVIS, all that the AI could tell him was that Tony was busy in the lab and would be out in time for supper. 

It wasn't unlike Tony to do something like that, except at least ninety percent of the time Tony slinks off to the lab after a mission (or a simple, yet monotonous fight with at least another person who just so happens to be frustrated with life and has now decided that villainy was the best route to take) and forgets to come up for supper. And to shower and sleep. Those are the times that he hated because he knows that Tony feels as if nobody should worry about him, because all his life nobody has ever made it so that he felt as if he should be worried and cared about. Except for Rhodey and Pepper. And the late Jarvis. And himself, of course.

So he shrugs it off and tells JARVIS to remind Tony that they'll be having supper with the rest of the team and watching a movie later. JARVIS assures him that the message would be relayed and he made his way down to his art studio to work off a little more of the adrenaline that was still coursing its way through his body. Unfortunately for him, the fight with Doom and his bots were of no challenge and was easily defeated, which meant that he didn't have an outlet for all of his energy. Painting helped relieve some of whatever pent up emotions or leftover adrenaline he had and it seemed like the best bet.

And then when it was time for supper and the takeaway boxes were all strewn about the coffee tables in the communal living room in front of the big screen and Tony still wasn't there, he went down to the lab to retrieve Tony.

"Tony, the rest of the team are upstairs waiting for you. Clint wants to start the movie already and is threatening to eat your Chinese if you aren't upstairs in the next five minutes," he says, walking down the stairs leading into the lab.

He immediately spots Tony in the centre of the lab, holograms splayed up in the air all around his head.

It's almost amusing to see when Tony startles, causing his hand to wave the holograms away before whirling around to face him. Almost.

What causes his amusement to fade, however, is how pale Tony looks.

His skin looks almost ashen in the artificial light of the lab and although the lights in the lab are probably only making it look more severe, Tony doesn't look… great, for lack of better words.

He looks tired. 

Exhausted.

When he mentions Clint trying to steal Tony’s chinese food and it garners absolutely no look of horror from Tony, the metaphorical alarm bells in the back of his mind start ringing. Because Tony always, always, always has something to say when it’s Clint who’s trying to steal his food. Tony’s lack of outrageous response that he always manages to make, paired with the pale complexion that now fills his form is what makes him do a double take.

Because something is immensely wrong.

He sees when Tony realizes the exact moment that he clued on to the fact that something was wrong because Tony tries to pull a face to show exactly how unhappy he is with Clint but it fails. All it does is fall flat and show how miserable he looks.

“Tony, what’s wrong?” 

Tony shrugs the questions off again and doesn’t answer him, just turns back to his floating holograms.

His nonchalant attitude just serves to worry him even more and he pushes for more information, anything that will tell him what is going on with Tony. His effort, however, is futile when Tony waves him away, and, almost as if feeling guilty (he should feel some guilt because it really hurt when Tony ignored him without even speaking to him), he blows him a kiss and shoots him a tiny grin over his shoulder. 

“Steve, it’s fine. Just- go upstairs and make sure that Barton doesn’t get his grimy paws on my chinese food. God, he’s like a freaking vacuum when it comes to food,” Tony says. The last part is muttered under his breath, but he hears it anyway due to his keen sense of hearing.

His abrupt change in attitude does little to ease the wariness that lingers, but because he’s a good boyfriend and he doesn’t want to push Tony too far - and sometimes being a good boyfriend means making sure that vultures like Clint can’t get to the other’s food - he moves to leave.

It’s not fast enough because just as he’s stepping over the threshold of the lab and the glass doors are sliding shut behind him, he hears Tony curse up a blue streak and a loud clattering as whatever tools were around Tony is knocked to the floor.

The sound is enough to make his blood run cold and he runs back through the now tiny opening of the still closing lab doors, halting it in its process of shutting behind him.

He’s met with the sight of Tony slumped on the floor, hunched over his right leg and body all tense.

“Shit, that hurts like a bitch. Dum-E, what have I told you about chasing after that damn ball? I said that you were going to trip someone and look what you do, tangle me up in your goddamn wires,” Tony huffs in irritation.

He crouches down next to Tony, who looks slightly stunned at seeing him still down in the lab and not upstairs defending his chinese food before going back to glaring Dum-E into submission. He takes a second to look at Tony’s oldest ‘bot and sees how its arm is slumped in regret. 

He turns back to look at Tony when he hisses in pain, hand hovering inches above his right ankle, which, now that he’s looking at it closer, is swollen and slightly bruised.

“Tony, what happened?” he asks. He winces when he listens to the sound of his own voice, hating how it comes out sounding more than a little exasperated and disappointed. 

Tony must’ve picked up on it too because if possible, he hunches over even more and pointedly avoids his eyes when answering him.

“I was doing maintenance on Dum-E and Butterfingers must’ve moved the ball harder than necessary because Dum-E chased after it and his wires got tangled up around me. It might not have been as bad if I hadn’t already hurt my ankle in the fight with Doom and his less than intelligent robots.”

He sighs, because what else was he supposed to do? This is exactly what he should be used to; Tony always refused to admit when he was hurt and would to try his absolute best to escape medical. Whenever he landed up in hospital, which was a rare occurrence, Tony always signed himself out, much to Rhodey, Pepper and his chagrin.

And now Tony was hurt.

And Tony didn’t tell him.

“Tony,” he sighs, “Why didn’t you just say something? How long have you been hurt? And why didn’t you tell me?”

Tony looks extremely guilty.

“I didn’t want to bother you and it’s not exactly the first time I've sprained my ankle," Tony says.

"Christ, Tony," he says as he takes hold of Tony's ankle, trying to be as gentle as possible. It looks bad, and, judging by how Tony keeps on shying away, it probably hurts just as much.

He feels around for any points of tenderness, gauging Tony's facial expressions and tries to move it slowly to check the range of motion.

When he moves it a little bit more to the right, Tony yelps, grabbing hold of his arm to stop him from moving his ankle around any further. He grimaces and moves his hands away, feeling guilty for causing Tony even more pain than he was already feeling.

Tony's ankle was extremely swollen, and although he might not be a medical doctor or have the same amount of medical experience as Bruce, he could at least tell that it was a grade three sprain from his time spent in the army.

Tony probably tore a ligament when he landed in the armour. He saw how hard Tony landed, and even though Tony hadn't said anything on comms during the fight with Doom, he'd heard how the rest of the team had commented on Tony's hard landing. It must've happened then.

It was a wonder that Tony was even standing when he came down to the lab earlier to tell him about supper. 

Now that he realizes it, Tony's silence was probably because of all the pain that he was in, and not because Tony was mad at him or avoiding him and the rest of the team.

The fight with Doom had been over eight hours ago and Tony had been in the lab ever since the fight was over. Which meant that Tony hadn't even put ice over his ankle. And from what he remembered, if your ankle was sprained, especially if it was as badly sprained as Tony's was, you'd have to use an ice pack or ice bath immediately for 15 to 20 minutes and repeat every two to three hours while you're awake. 

"Tony, I'm going to help you stand, and then we're going to medical so that we can sort out your ankle."

Tony scowls.

"I don't need to go medical, Steve. It's fine, I can handle a sprained ankle by myself. I'm a big boy."

"I'm not asking you, Tony, I'm telling you. And right now I'm not liking the way your ankle is swollen. Maybe if you'd told me about your ankle earlier then we could've forgone going to medical, but you didn't and now your ankle has swelled even more. I won't ask anyone else to help you, because I know you and you hate medical," he says as he grabs hold of Tony's waist and slowly lifts them up.

Tony leans heavily on him, face screwed up in pain and he hates the way a pained whimper escapes Tony's tightly sealed lips.

When they're finally standing, well, when he's standing, he decides to forget about helping Tony walk to medical; he's in too much pain.

So, ignoring Tony's complaints about not being carried, he hoists Tony up in his arms and leaves the lab.

He needs to get Tony's ankle compressed and elevated.

By the time he's done sorting out Tony's ankle, their Chinese food is long cold and the movie with the rest of the team is more than halfway, but at least they got to spend the rest of the night in bed together as they ate supper and watched a movie on the big screen in their room.

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, the reason for me not being able to finish all of my Whumptober prompts is because I've been working on all of my WIP's. Now, the reason why I'm telling you all of this is because I felt the need to inform you of why I haven't updated AND because I am in desperate need of an artist. I need someone who can illustrate drawings that can be paired up with my drawings. If any one of you can draw, I'll add a link in the down below and you can apply there.
> 
> [Artist Applications](https://surveyheart.com/form/5de60edbb8840735f478f618/)  
> You can see the inspiration for this fic over here


End file.
